Promises 3: Uncertainties
by syaoran no hime
Summary: Lyserg Diethyl knows that Jeanne-sama is everything he wants in a lady whom he could love. But the problem is, he won't admit it. LysJea.
1. Default Chapter

Dedicated to Fluffychans and Lola Apple, wholesome and hentaish RESPECTIVELY.

Lyserg Diethyl paced back and forth nervously. He had sinned, oh good Lord, he did! And against someone as holy as the iron maiden even.

It was unthinkably, unacceptably, unbelievably shameful of him to commit such a grave sin. For the nth time, he cursed himself.

Then remembered what happened again.

Cursed himself again.

And again.

And again.

"Lyserg, my man, are you ok?" asked Horo Horo, a little tipsy already with the rounds of beer passed around the table.

"Yeah, yeah," he managed to mutter. Yoh looked at him, puzzled.

"You told us that you were going to unwind awhile ago when you said you were going to the park," began Yoh gently. "How come you look much more tensed when you returned from your walk?"

He exhaled, gathering himself. It wasn't really much, what he saw awhile ago. It would have been easy to say that it was all perfectly normal, and he was the only one adding malicious meaning to it. But then…

He looked at his buddy, then noticed that Yoh's attention was on Horo Horo, who was starting to tease poor Tamamura Tamao.

"What's wrong with your love life, Tamao?" The ainu was asking her. "I mean, you're cute. You're…so nice! How come you don't have a boyfriend yet?"

"Horo Horo!" groaned Yoh, who was particularly thankful for the fact that Anna wasn't around to see how his friend was terrorizing her friend.

The girl hugged the tray to her chest tightly. "Um, Horo-kun…you had too much drink…"

"Nonsense!" roared the boy, wiggling his fingers. "Me and my wits…they're still here, see?"

"That's what you think," muttered Ren Tao, sipping his drink. "They never had been there in the first place." 

Lyserg noticed that his eyes were subtly on Horo Horo's sister, who was fast asleep on the living room. She had earlier given in to the call of intoxication and had fallen into slumber.

The dowser smiled. The Chinese shaman may not be too subtle about his concern for the ainu girl, but he knew that Ren sneaked out awhile ago to place a blanket on her.

Yoh turned his attention to him once again when Horo Horo had scrambled outside; he seemed to have given in to the call of nausea too.

"So what happened when you walked awhile ago, Lyserg?" he asked, shifting his position towards the Londoner.

"Nothing much," he heard himself say. _Only everything else._

His mind flew back to what transpired just some hours ago…

Lyserg stretched lazily. "There! Finished my discourse with Descartes. Later, I'll go over the guide questions and-"

"Lyserg, are you there?" asked the familiar cheerful voice of Yoh Asakura.

He smiled. "Yup. Come in."

Yoh waved and entered his hotel room, bringing bags of groceries. "I passed by here when Ryu told me you will be in town for a week."

"I will not miss the birthday of Yoh Asakura for anything in the world," he said, grinning.

The shaman grinned back. "Gee, thanks, Lyserg. Dakedo…" His smile weakened. "It's aniki's birthday too, you know."

"Yeah well…" He knew that too, only so well. "I guess the fact alone that you existed in this world because of this date would suffice to erase that thought from my mind."

Yoh laughed. "That's a nice way of looking at things." He snapped his fingers. "By the way, Horo Horo suggested that we try a drinking session tonight, since Anna…" He sighed. "Anna won't be around."

His eyebrow rose. "Now that's a first."

"Grandma calls," he said simply, as if it would explain everything. "But she said she would be back in Funbari as soon as she can."

"Then why don't you just celebrate your birthday in whatever place she's going?" he asked curiously.

"Grandma says I'm not an itako," he explained sheepishly.

"Oh." He patted his friend's shoulder. "Cheer up. Anna did say she would come as soon as she can. Maybe she would be back tonight even."

"Yeah maybe…and I guess it will work out too, because I don't know what Anna will say when she finds out that I will be having you guys over for a little drink. You know that she doesn't trust Horo Horo."

Lyserg shrugged. "I guess that's alright. I don't trust him either."

"I…I wanted to invite aniki, but…he declined," confessed the Asakura.

Lyserg smiled faintly. Simple Yoh, he would always insist to see the goodness of a person, no matter who the person was. He wished he had a heart like Yoh's, who had already forgiven Asakura Hao for trying to dominate the world.

Or the heart of Jeanne-sama, who had already disbanded the X-Laws and had announced that Hao mustn't be destroyed, but redeemed.

He smiled absent-mindedly when he thought about the young leader of the group that used to seek Hao Asakura's destruction. Aside from being merciful and compassionate, Jeanne-sama was also kind and patient, sweet and angelic…very pretty too.

The last thought nearly made him choke. Whenever his thinking starts to tread dangerously towards those things he secretly likes about his former mistress—mistress, as in someone he serves, and not _mistress_ mistress--, he starts to feel nervous. He would feel his heart beat twice as fast, his palms sweaty and clammy, and in the whole, restless.

Seconds later, he would feel guilty for thinking unsacred thoughts about the Jeanne-sama.     

Minutes later, he would feel _very_ guilty, because he was still thinking about those thoughts on the most holy girl.

And hours later…

"Lyserg? Yu-hoo?" Yoh snapped his fingers in front of the dowser's face. 

"He's out," sighed someone whose voice suspiciously sounds like Horo Horo.

Before he could react, a sound slap nearly made his teeth fly. The dowser immediately got up. "Hey, what was that for?" he demanded.

"We got him back," said Horo cheerfully, who, for some reason, he hadn't noticed had made his appearance in his room too. 

"Lyserg, you're studying too hard," said Yoh worriedly. "Maybe you should take a break first from your studies and-"

"It has got nothing to do with studies," said Horo, smiling. 

The dowser felt his face warm up. He could read oh-so-well in the ainu's eyes what he meant.

Fortunately, Yoh was…well…less perceptive. "Whatever you're thinking about, Lyserg, I still say you need a break."

"Right." He got up and gathered his things. "Maybe I should take a walk in the park or something." He grabbed his jacket.

Yoh grinned. "OK, and we'll see you tonight, ne?"

He nodded, smiling.

"This must be one of Yoh's brightest ideas," Lyserg thought as he walked down the brick road, feeling the fresh air kiss his skin lovingly. He could feel his spirits lifting themselves up already.

Just then, he saw a familiar man with broad shoulders walking down in his usual stiff manner. Before he could stop himself, he called out.

"Marco!"

The man immediately looked up, frowning. But when he saw who the person was, a small smile formed on the face of the former X-Laws right-hand.

"Jeanne-sama would be delighted to see you." Marco's words echoed in his mind as he took the steps towards the north of the park two at a time.

Yoh had invited the Iron maiden to his party too, but in the last minute, couldn't make it because of her cold.

Marco told him to pay his respects to the holy girl; he told him that ever since the X Laws had been disbanded, she had been lonely, and mostly keeps to herself.

At last, he arrived in the hut, where Marco left her temporari ut thinking twice, he dashed out of the park like a madman, ignoring the bewildered and bemused glances he would receive from anyone he sees.

He saw Marco frown when he ran past him. He could hear him calling, but he ignored the man.

He had to get away—from this stupid embarrassment, from those red polka dots cotton memories…

"Shit!" He ran straight on a flagpole. Dizzily, he looked up and found himself gazing at the proud flag of Japan.

"Gah!!!!!!!!!!!"

He was in that distressed position when Yoh and Horo Horo found him.

"Lyserg?"

"I didn't see anything!!!" he yelled.

Yoh blinked, then grinned. "OK, we believe you."

"Good."

Horo looked at him, puzzled. "What?!" The ainu was here with Yoh all that time and he couldn't understand why it was only Yoh who understood whatever the thing that the dowser didn't see.

Yoh motioned for Horo to stop talking and instead, helped Lyserg up. "Um, can I ask you one little thing without you bursting into hysterics?"

Lyserg nodded slowly.

"Where's your other shoe?" He motioned towards his left foot that was shoeless.

The dowser froze, then tried to think of what could have happened that caused his shoe to drop from his foot. 

Then it him.

His mind recalled in nightmarish slow motion what he saw, and how he fell down from the stairs leading to the hut, and how he scrambled away from the scene of the crime…_his _crime…

…and his little leather black shoe left by the stairs…

"Oh god…"He covered his face with his hands, groaning.

"Lyserg?"

The dowser blinked when he saw Yoh grinning at him. He was offering him another can of gin.

"This will help, that's what Ren says," the Asakura shaman explained.

He managed a weak smile. "Thanks." He took a big gulp of the drink, then resumed his self-damnation.

He looked at the can and silently groaned at the white can and red circle logo in the center.

What a scoundrel he was.

**tsuzuku**


	2. 2

Iron Maiden Jeanne sighed audibly for the nth time, soliciting a frown from the blond-haired guardian cum right-hand of her former cluster.

"Are you feeling sick, Jeanne-sama?" he asked, brows knitted in its usual seriously serious way, something she finds funny…er, _strange_. She had been wondering whether Marco was not taught how to not frown all the time, that smile itself is against his dogma of solemnity and reverence to God.

Oh, and to her too, of course.

But the shaman fight, the X Laws, and Hao Asakura were now but part of a history three months old. She had not heard anymore of the Asakura devil, so she had disbanded the X Laws for good.

However, good ole Marco still insists on respecting her like she was a deity.

_But I'm not divine. I'm human too,_ she thought, biting her lip.

All her life, no one treated her like that. She was Jeanne-sama, the Iron Maiden, and she deserves no less than the kind of respect Marco and the rest of the X Laws gave her—especially Marco.

And she had been perfectly contented with that. At her young age of nine, she thought that was really how life works.

That is, until she met Lyserg Diethyl.

The Londoner who respected her too, just as Marco did. Though in the end, he chose to be with his friends, he didn't forget to say thanks and goodbye to her. It was that respect she was longing for.

Not to mention that brief smile from him…she couldn't forget it. How could she, when that smile started the labyrinth of emotions she fought with for the last four months?

How she couldn't stop thinking of him, wondering what happened to him. She heard that he declined the offer of his friends to stay in Funbari with the others. She wanted so badly to ask him where he was planning to go, but shyness overwhelmed her. Besides, he wasn't part of the X Laws anymore. His affairs weren't part of her concerns anymore.

Right?

So what else then could the explanation be for her imagining that Lyserg Diethyl was just here awhile ago?

She thought she sensed his presence, and in her eagerness, she rushed towards the foot of the stairs leading to the hut where she earlier heard a sound of something crashing down.

But she found no trace of anyone or anything.

Well, save for a shoe. A shoe that might have easily dropped from a garbage bag or something.

She sighed audibly. No point in raising her hopes too much.

For in the first place, why in the world would Lyserg want to see her when he was not part of the X Laws anymore?

"You're not listening," said Marco, an eyebrow shot up. He looked mildly irritated, a man just fighting for his temper.

She blinked, then giggled. That was one of the rare times she saw something else on her guardian's face other than a frown.

"I'm so sorry," she said. "What were you saying?"

Marco went back to his usual poker face mode. "Lyserg Diethyl. Did you see him today?"

"W-Why, no!" She started getting nervous again. "I-Is he here?"

"As a matter of fact, he went to see you, or so I think." Marco frowned worriedly. "He looked like the devil was chasing him when I met him again." He crossed his arms. "If you haven't told me that you didn't see him, Jeanne-sama, I would have suspected that he did something…unhonorable and disrespectful to you."

"Lyserg is the last person to do such thing, Marco," she couldn't help but remind him. In her eyes, Lyserg Diethyl could do no wrong except to think that he was wrong.

"I trust your word, Jeanne-sama," said Marco, nodding. "But it just seems peculiar that he would run off wildly just like that. I wonder…"

Something clicked in her mind. The crash…the shoe…and running Lyserg?

She immediately rejected that possibility…that he was running away from her. Whatever could be his reason to do that anyway?

She was just being absurd by imagining that Lyserg did come to see her.

Right?

One year and a half had passed.

Lyserg Diethyl could not believe that it had been that long since he last set foot in the soil of Japan. He had been so busy working out the detective agency he most ardently dreamed of ever since he was a child. Together with his classmates in the university, they were able to form a small, independent group of private detectives tapped by the friends of the close friends of his classmates' parents and relatives.

But still, he wasn't satisfied; he was not contented with what he had reached so far in life. Ironic, when back then, having the chance to work in a detective agency was one of his most ultimate goals in life.

That, and serving the Iron Maiden.

He groaned inwardly. For the past year, he had tried to not let his thoughts tread on that line; ever since that windy afternoon, guilt and shame forced him to take the cowardly way out…out to London, that is.

_I mean, how am I supposed to face Jeanne-sama after what happened? After what I saw? _ His face reddened once more with the memory of the white cotton panties with small red polka dots, as well as the pair of creamy flesh hidden beneath her skirt.

He groaned. He had seen Jeanne-sama in her other outfit, but he felt nothing sexual about it.

So what the hell had gotten him started into this _filthy_ pervertedness?

He didn't know, but one thing was for sure…it was bad. And it must be suppressed.

Jeanne-sama did not deserve his earthly evilness.

The Iron Maiden, the most Holy Girl Jeanne.

_Stop thinking of her, you fiend! _He scolded himself. _She's just eleven years old! Eleven! Good lord…_

Ooops.

The second commandment: Thou shall not use God's name in vain.

He heaved another sigh before he carried his suitcases. He still had a long travel before him. Yoh and Anna weren't in Funbari, and the note they left on the house said that they were taking a vacation in Izumo indefinitely.

_Friends. Company of guys would take her off my mind._

_I hope._

"Hey Mr. Dowser!"

Lyserg smiled, relieved. He had been going around the town in circles for an hour already since no one wanted to tell him where the Asakura clan lives, let alone confirm if the Asakuras do exist in this town. His only evidence was Yoh and Anna's letter, and the two were the last people he had in his mind that would play such trick on anyone. "Horo Horo! What a relief. I thought I got the wrong address."

Horo Horo quickly motioned for him to sit. "Glad you found time to visit us. How are London and its girls?"

"Typical of you, Horo Horo," he said dryly. "The girls are fine and London is still London-"

"Tough. No lovelife then?"

Lyserg blinked, wondering how the topic shifted so quickly to that matter. Horo Horo grinned at him innocently.

"I'm too busy studying," he admitted. "I want to form my own detective agency."

"Cool!" exclaimed Horo. "And I'll visit you! As long as your refrigerator is always fully-stocked…and I won't interfere in your lovelife."

He sighed exasperatedly. "Why does it always end up with my lovelife being discussed?" He slammed his hand on his forehead. "Oh yeah, you're Horo Horo after all. Ren told me that even before you learned how to walk, you already knew how to annoy people."

"I'm very good at it," smirked the Ainu. "As good as I am in breathing. But heck, why are you changing the topic?"

The dowser was incredulous. Now _he_ was the one changing the topic! He decided that the only way for him to get out of the boy's interrogation was to turn the interrogating table. "Wait, do _you_ have a lovelife?" he asked pointedly at the Ainu boy.

"Yep," came the blue-haired shaman's response. "I'm in love with casseroles and roast beef and clubhouse sandwiches. I'm also in love with my snowboard, and if it was a girl, I would marry it at this instant."

Lyserg sighed. "Oh." What had gotten him into thinking that Horo Horo was capable of having a love affair with anyone other than his snacks?

"And you?" he asked swiftly. "I'm not counting on Morphine though, and only one significant female person figured in your life so-"

"She's just a child!" he said defensively. He knew it. Just one look at Horo Horo's face and he knew where he was heading for.

"I wasn't naming names!" Horo Horo said cutely. Too bad he didn't find it that way. He was irritated with how the Ainu was pushing him into a very awkward position.

"Well, you're obviously pertaining to her-" He stopped when he realized that he was just digging himself his own hole.

"Her? As in Jeanne-specific?" said the ice shaman triumphantly.

He could feel his face heating up –damn, why was his self-control going to waste every time Jeanne was being mentioned? "W-We have long parted ways…" He decided to say instead, and for a moment, he remembered again that he was not able to say goodbye to the doncella properly. Strangely, the Ainu quieted down.

"Horo-kun, why are you so noisy-" Tamao stopped when she saw the guest. "A-Ah, Diethyl-san! W-What a pleasant surprise! I-I'll call Master Yoh and Anna-okami. They must be in the forest, training right now-"

"Training?" Lyserg was bemused. "But the shaman fight is no more."

Horo answered for Tamao. "The itako says Yoh couldn't rest on his laurels, although with the way Yoh is training constantly, his laurels could have long withered off already."

The dowser laughed. "Ah well, if they say change is the only constant thing in the world, they should meet Kyouyama Anna." He looked around the kitchen. "Your sister, Horo Horo?"

"Playing with Kororo, probably. And I think Ryu is in Funbari. Ren is in China while Chocolove is in…who cares?"

Tamao giggled and slammed her hand on the Ainu shaman's back. "Really mean, Horo-kun." She then noticed Lyserg's puzzled gaze. She blushed, then mumbled something about looking for Yoh and Anna.

Lyserg smiled, sensing that maybe, just maybe, Horo Horo wasn't immune to love affairs as he originally thought.

And he needed something to distract him anyway, and maybe his friend's lovelife would suffice for now.

He looked down at the table covered with white linen, and the red mark of the bottom of the glass catsup bottle on the table.

He groaned inwardly again.

**tsuzuku**


End file.
